Commercial LEDs to increase efficiency 50% by 2012, 150 lumens per watt!

Taiwan-based LED maker Epistar has stated its company will see 150 lumens-per-watt (lm/W) efficiencies in DC-powered LEDs by the year 2012. Its AC-powered LEDs will see 130lm/W. These are increases in efficiency of 50% for DC, and 86% for AC, which today are at 100lm/W and 70lm/W, respectively. Greater efficiency means more light with less power, and LED-backlight powered devices which last longer on a single charge.

Epistar has recently achieved 100lm/W with high-power blue LEDs, which will ship in 2H’2009. Its AC LEDs will begin shipping this quarter, with blue AC-powered LEDs being introduced for the first time in 3Q’2009.

Many people believe that it is a watt rating which determines how much illumination a light bulb gives off. However, the watt rating is simply a measurement of the amount of current the bulb will draw in a 120VAC circuit. A 60 watt bulb draws 0.5 amps, as the formula is Watts = Volts x Amperage.

A typical 60 watt incandescent light bulb produces around 890 lumens, which yields 14.8 lumens per watt. And to give an appropriate perspective, commercially available energy-saving compact fluorescent light sources (non-LED, typically 39 watts for 2780 lumens — the 150 watt bulb replacements) achieve 71lm/W, which is in-line with LED’s current AC levels, but 43% behind current DC levels. More typical 60 watt bulb replacements achieve about 900 lumens on 15 watts, which is 60lm/W.

A typical home consuming 2000 watts per day from incandescent lighting (30,000 lumens), could achieve the same illumination using only 197 watts with the LEDs available in 2012, a savings of 10x on the electric bill.

Rick’s Opinion

LED technologies are very exciting. OLED screens consume significantly less power than traditional backlit screens, because each individual pixel when fully illuminated requires equal or less power than the backlight itself (in a conventional display), and not all of the pixels are on, let alone at full power.

LED lighting is available today as replacement home lighting. Some users complain about the color, however there is a new technology which infuses the surface of LEDs with colorized specs (called quantum dots, creating a more desirable color temperature for standard room illumination.